This invention relates generally to stuffed toy figures--dolls or animals--with a detachable pacifier. The purpose of the invention is to provide convenience, control and weaning assistance to parents whose infants or children use a pacifier. A further purpose of the invention is to allow maximum breathing and vision capabilities to infants while using a pacifier/toy combination. The invention further provides pacification, entertainment and play to infants or small children.
The pacifier, comprised of a variety of materials, has long been used to soothe the oral demands of infants or small children during irritable periods by providing them with an object to suck on in place of a bottle or breast in between feedings. Use of a pacifier has been shown to calm the irritability of a child.
When a pacifier is combined with a toy, the eventual weaning or elimination of the pacifier is less traumatic for the child. When the parent weans the child from the pacifier, the child still has the comfort of the doll which it has associated with comfort since infancy when the child started using a pacifier. The child will first look for the pacifier, but quickly accept the toy or doll on its own without the pacifier.
Infant-pacifier combinations have been previously developed. It was recognized that there are advantages to attaching a pacifier to a toy in addition to those relating to weaning mentioned above. The child is provided with comfort from the pacifier and toy at the same time. Additionally, the connection of the pacifier to the doll prevents the pacifier from becoming readily damaged or dirtied while the pacifier may still be easily removed for cleaning and sterilizing.
It is recognized that in fastening the pacifier to the toy, safety is a critical consideration. This safety factor precludes a simple means of attachment such as tying the pacifier around a child's neck or simply attaching string or elastic with a pacifier on the end to the doll's body, which may cause strangulation. Thus, any toy/pacifier combination must provide the advantages described above in a safe and convenient manner. The means of attachment is the key element in achieving these goals.
In a previous combination, as, for example, illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,910, the pacifier is attached directly to the body of the toy by means of a receptacle on the body of the toy itself (i.e. the nose). This means of attachment does not require small-finger movements for detachment of the pacifier, which may therefore be pulled off the toy by a child using the combination. The child could then easily drop and dirty or lose the pacifier. In addition, since the pacifier is attached directly to the body of the toy, the child cannot comfortably hug the toy or lie in bed with the toy away from her face while the pacifier is in her mouth. Thus, when the child is using the pacifier, the doll is positioned directly and closely in the infant's face, obstructing both vision and breathing. One of the primary advantages to this invention is the length and flexibility of the means of attachment of the pacifier which allows for maximum undisturbed sleeping and breathing comfort for the infant and allows for the use of the pacifier with a full range of vision while upright or in any sleeping position.
In the previous combination cited above, an infant would be unable to comfortably sleep on either her back or stomach while using the combination. If the infant slept on her back and wished to use the pacifier, the toy or animal would necessarily be positioned on or near the face of the infant obstructing vision and breathing. If the infant slept on her stomach, with head turned to the side, and attempted to use the pacifier, vision and breathing obstruction would result along with the probable improper and harmful fit of the pacifier in the infant's mouth, because of the awkward inflexibility of the receptacle form of attachment. By contrast, in the present invention, the infant can comfortably sleep in any position while using the pacifier and holding the doll (or not holding the doll) because the means of attachment flexibly extends away from the doll and there is, therefore, no physical interference with the infant's breathing or vision while in any sleeping position. The proper air circulation near the infant's face accomplished with this invention, as opposed to the breathing obstruction likely in the other combination, is important from a health, safety and comfort standpoint. There is increasing recognition within the medical literature of the adverse effects on infants of obstructed breathing caused by excessive blankets or otherwise, which promote the harmful concentration of carbon dioxide around the infant's face. The present invention eliminates this concern because of the flexible extension which results in the body of the doll being away from the child's face. The flexible extension also allows the child to have unobstructed vision while walking (important for safety reasons) or lying in the crib (important for unimpaired visual stimulation).
An additional improvement and advantage of the present combination is that, unlike the previous combination, the pacifier cannot be removed by the child alone. An illustration of the practical importance of this is nighttime pacifier use. If the child can pull the pacifier off by herself, the pacifier may then fall out of the crib. If, however, the pacifier cannot be detached by the child, it will always stay in the crib with the doll and can be easily found. Consequently, parents will not be beckoned during the night as often because of dropped or misplaced pacifiers or crying infants.
Lastly, in the previous combination, the aesthetic effect when the pacifier is removed is displeasing and awkward since the removal of the pacifier leaves an empty receptacle on the doll or animal with no purpose. In the present invention the doll looks absolutely normal with no unnatural appearing empty spaces when the pacifier is removed.
What is needed, then, is a means of attachment of the pacifier to the toy for improving breathing and sleeping comfort and safety; aesthetics; function; and parental control over the attachment and detachment of the pacifier that is secure enough so that it cannot be lost, dropped or pulled off the doll by the child. Also needed is an attachment mechanism whereby the pacifier is able to be detached by the parent only for laundering of the doll and sterilization of the pacifier. Finally, the combination should in no way obstruct the breathing and vision of the infant and the doll should look perfectly normal without the pacifier.
To the inventor's knowledge, the previous combination cited above is not currently being sold at major retail toy outlets. The deficiencies of the previous combination outlined above, which are overcome and corrected in the present invention, may have contributed to its lack of commercial success.